Half an hour farther on the road was the village of my little
Syrian girl, who was accompanying me back to England. I was carried to
her father's house and lay there for ten days very ill, and was nursed
by her and my English maid. It was a trying time; but the whole family
showed me every kindness and attention, and I had every comfort that the
place could afford. Many friends, both English and native, came to visit
me from Beyrout and from the villages round about. From here I wrote a
long letter to Lord Derby, who had appointed us to Damascus, stating the
true facts of the case, and exposing the falsehoods, so far as I knew
them, which had led Lord Granville to weakly consent to our recall. I
never rested till that cloud was lifted.
I went down to Beyrout as soon as I was well enough to move, and embarked
in the Russian ship _Ceres_; the same ship, strange to say, that had
brought me from Alexandria to Beyrout, when I first turned my face
towards Damascus. As we were about to steam out an English vice-consul
in the Levant gaily waved his hand to me, and cried out, "Good-bye, Mrs.
Burton; I have been sixteen years in the service, and I have known twenty
scoundrels go unpunished, but I never saw a consul recalled except for
something disgraceful--certainly never for an Eastern pasha. You will
find it is all right when you get home; they would hardly do such a
thing to a man like Burton."
We arrived at Alexandria, and I went to a hotel.
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